The problem of evil

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There are two characteristics of humans that need to be present for evil actions to occur.  The first is we have to have an imagination.  After all, for us to do evil, we have to first imagine it.  We don't fully control our imaginations consciously.  Just imagining something bad is not necessarily evil.  Though if you decide to dwell on the thought and develop it, that could be considered evil.  

In addition to having an imagination we have to have enough free will to actually commit our evil desires.  The ability to act on our evil thoughts is where the real harm occurs.  And it is in the actions, that humans both can see and experience the impact of evil and forces us to face the reality of our existence with other powerful beings.  

At its root, humans need both of these characteristics.  Let's look at each separately.  

For God to prevent evil actions in humans, he has to eliminate one or the other.  Ironically, I can't imagine humans without imagination.  It is so core, so fundamental to everything we are, that it wouldn't make sense.  

There are some scientists who say that humans don't have imagination, that we just replicate what we experience, with modifications.  So maybe I can envision a life where very active brains are able to make the appearance of imagination by putting together complex previous experiences.  After all, we are seeing similar experiences in artificial intelligence.  But where does imagination stop and start?  And even in this scenario, I can envision individuals taking multiple "good" experiences and imagination an evil result.  

Why God couldn't have made us so that we could only imagine good things?  Try to imagine what this would look like.  There are so many issues with this idea.  Who determines what is good?  How do you put such a fail safe in the imagination, after all, isn't the incredible freedom in the imagination a prerequisite for a good imagination?  Imagination operates the best when judgement calls are not put upon the ideas generated.  

Is there a realistic option for their to be an imagination where there is no evil?  And if not, isn't the ability to imagine and project more valuable than the damage which occurs from the evil imagined?   Bottom line, I think humans were given a great gift in our imaginations, but it also creates the potential for evil actions.  I don't know how imagination can exist without the potential of evil.  

The final ingredient is free will.  Humans have to be able to take the imagination and act upon it.  Being American, I like my independence so it is easy to justify that everyone has free will and we should never give it up!  In fact, it is a great gift; yet, many people who gladly limit their actions to specific boundaries, whether it be political, social, cultural, and/or religious.  This is a great endeavor especially when done for other people's good, but it doesn't negate the fact that you freely choose this good action.  And it certainly sets a precedent that you could also have chosen an evil action.

There are both religious and scientific arguments that man does not have free will.  Practically, in every day living,  the arguments are pretty moot.  Right now, I can sit back and imagine an evil thought and act on it immediately.  We do this often enough to know that we have enough freedom to do evil or to not do it.  

As long as humans have imagination and free evil, the potential for human evil in our world exists.  So two great gifts also leave open the possibility of horrible results.  Why not just bring heaven on earth and remove evil.  The answer lays in the final section, but lets first talk about evil spirits.  

When discussing spiritual evil, definitions need to be made about the spiritual realm.  Given this is outside of our universe and we have little insight into that dimension, personally, I find it difficult to make any theories.  There are some indications in the Bible for certain facts, but again there are different theories to define     There are multiple decent possible theories, but because it deals with something completely outside of the material, I don't know how you really discriminate with one from another. 

Did God create evil spirits and if he didn't why does he allow them to exist?  There are many levels of questions and I am not going to try to even answer them.  Let's stick to one simple theory and then move onto the parable.  

Isaiah 14:12-17 is often attributed to the fall of the devil.  It talks about the fall of the "Morning Star" (literally Lucifer).   Basically, he was too proud and tried to put himself above God.  Revelations 12:7-11 talks about the devil being cast out of heaven with his angels. 

This theory says that the devil and demons were created by God for good purposes but they were forced out of heaven because they were trying to do evil work.  This devil tries to destroy the things of God including tempting Eve.  God allows him to continue to live, though judgement will come.  Why does God let him live?  The best answer is Jesus' parable below.

Matthew 13:24-30 says this in the New Living Translation:

Here is another story Jesus told: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away. 26When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew.

“The farmer’s workers went to him and said, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?’

 “‘An enemy has done this!’ the farmer exclaimed.

“‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked.

 “‘No,’ he replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.’”

Jesus explains this parable in verse 36-44.  Good seed are people of the kingdom, where the seeds are people who are not part of the kingdom.  God is worried that if he comes into situations and pulls the weeds earlier, than less people will end up trusting Jesus. 

So the bottom line is God let's evil people live in the world to ensure the most good people are saved.  The primary concern is with people being saved not with our current suffering.  He still cares about our suffering as shown over and over in the Bible and we should be confident that our suffering has good purposes.